UN University Rector Assumes Chair of Top UN Interagency Migration Group

On 1 January 2017, United Nations University (UNU) Rector and UN Under-Secretary-General Dr David M. Malone assumed the role of Chair of the Global Migration Group (GMG). The GMG is a forum of 21 agencies and entities from the United Nations system that promotes norms relating to international migration so as to work towards improved global governance of this issue.

Tokyo, 12 January 2017 — “For over ten years, the Global Migration Group has been a key international venue for promoting international instruments relating to migration, and encouraging fair and coherent approaches to migration”, says Dr David M. Malone, UNU Rector and UN Under-Secretary-General. “UNU looks forward to contributing to the GMG’s thought leadership and genuinely global perspective on migration in 2017, a decisive year in the course of policymaking on international migration.”

UN Member States will engage in broad consultations throughout 2017 to inform negotiations on a global compact on safe, regular, and orderly migration in 2018. “The migration governance and policy landscape in which the GMG operates is rapidly shifting”, says Rector Malone. “The GMG must provide clear, meaningful, and joined-up input to Member States in the formulation of global policies on international migration.”

As Chair, Rector Malone will ensure that the GMG collaborates closely with the UN Secretary-General’s representatives and with the Global Forum for Migration and Development (GFMD), a comprehensive government-led process that focuses on the links between migration and development, and systematically with those Member States playing key leadership roles in the run-up to the negotiation of the global compact in 2018.

UNU formally joined the GMG in 2014, placing UNU’s expertise on migration at its service.

The UNU Migration Network of researchers, for example, offers diverse perspectives on the thematic priorities of current international debates. The network will convene a collaborative academic seminar series, co-organised with the UNU Office at the United Nations (UNU-ONY), in New York through the course of 2017.

In support of UN efforts to counter xenophobia, in 2018 the UNU Institute for Globalization, Culture and Mobility (UNU-GCM) and the UNU Centre for Policy Research (UNU-CPR) will produce a report on xenophobia and the representation of migrants in the media.

The United Nations University (UNU) is an international community of scholars engaged in policy-relevant research on pressing global issues, specialised postgraduate training and capacity building, and the dissemination of knowledge. UNU functions as a think tank for the United Nations system. It operates as a global network of institutes and programmes, coordinated by UNU Centre in Tokyo.

As Chair of the GMG, the UNU Rector and his Office will be supported by all of UNU, most especially by the UNU Institute for Globalization, Culture and Mobility (UNU-GCM) in Barcelona, the UNU Office at the United Nations in New York (UNU-ONY), the UNU Migration Network, the UNU Vice-Rectorate in Europe (UNU-ViE), and UNU Centre for Policy Research in Tokyo (UNU-CPR).